The Demon Brothers Booster Club, an organization of former Demon football players and family members backing NSU’s football team, held its third annual fundraiser Saturday, April 20. The Crawfish Boil, held in conjunction with the football team’s Delaney Bowl, raised funds to be used in assisting the NSU football team in its mission. In addition to delicious, extremely large crawfish from Cajun country, and Layne Miller’s trademark jambalaya, guests enjoyed a silent auction of sports memorabilia and NSU gear.
Former Demon football players including NFL veterans Gary Reasons, Odessa Turner, Floyd Turner, Mike Green, and the legendary Bobby Hebert were on hand to support the young men who are carrying on the Demon legacy.
It is more than a fundraiser, however. The young men of the NSU football team are part and parcel of a tradition that stretches back decades to the earliest days of the university. It is fitting indeed that the Demon Brotherhood gathered after the Delaney Bowl, the spring game named after a man who personified what a student athlete, and man, should be.
Joe Delaney ran track and field as well as playing football, setting school records in both sports. After graduation, Joe went on to play for two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs where he was named “Rookie of the Year” by United Press International.
It wasn’t simply his feats on the gridiron that earned him an honored place in Northwestern State University’s history however, but rather his courage and character on and off the field. On June 29, 1983, Joe went with some friends to a park in Monroe, Louisiana. While there, he saw a group of three children who had gotten in a drainage pond trying to beat the summer heat, only to discover they were trapped, and were calling for help. Despite reportedly not being able to swim, Joe Delaney went in to try to rescue the children. One survived, but tragically the other two and the man who gave his life to try to rescue them did not. President Ronald Reagan posthumously awarded Delaney the Presidential Citizen’s Medal. President Reagan’s remarks at the ceremony sum up this remarkable man’s legacy well.
“He made the ultimate sacrifice by placing the lives of three children above regard for his own safety. By the supreme example of courage and compassion, this brilliantly gifted young man left a spiritual legacy for his fellow Americans…” said the president.
Through the annual Delaney Bowl, a display underneath the west stands at Turpin Stadium, a portrait that hangs in the Friedman Student Union, and the Delaney Memorial Leadership Awards bestowed on each year’s permanent football team captains, NSU perpetuates the incomparable legacy of Joe Delaney. The Demon Brothers, whose core members include many of Joe’s teammates, are committed to helping the NSU football program and the young men of today aspire to the highest caliber of citizenship and accomplishment, personified by Delaney’s life.
